AIDs Prevention

[jackofallgeeks]

From This article on an increasing trend in AIDs infections:

Simply focusing on treatment or politically uncontroversial prevention methods will not suffice. "You can't put all your eggs in the abstinence basket," said Hays. "We need a menu of strategies for real people," he said, adding that condom distribution as well as new methods, such as a vaccine, are needed.

OK, so we all know my personal stance here, but I'm honestly curious: I hear a lot of talk about condoms and the like as a means of 'safe sex,' but I've never seen any statistics on it. Generally I take all statistics with a grain of salt anyways (too many ways to bend the numbers, in my opinion), but I know there's still a chance of pregnancy when using condoms, so I'm just curious what things look like numerically on AIDs prevention.

And I'll be honest, what bothers me the most about the "can't put all your eggs in the abstinence basket" quip is the implication that we as humans generally lack the self-control to not sleep around. I mean, we're not really talking about a religious issue here any more -- the answer to "what's wrong with having sex" is no longer "God doesn't like it," it's "you could get AIDs and die." One would imagine that's a big enough stick to get most people to at least think about who they're sleeping with -- at the very least you shouldn't sleep with someone you know is sick, right? And you certainly shouldn't sleep with someone you can't trust is being honest about their sexual history. So... yeah. That's my thought for the moment.

Comments

[starlight1184.livejournal.com]

Everything I've ever heard is that condoms only protect against pregnancy, not STDs. But, I'm no expert on the subject.

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

That's the impression I always got, which is why I'm curious about this. The quoted article isn't the first time I've heard condoms touted as an AIDs preventative, but as noted I haven't ever seen evidence to support why.

[tiel.livejournal.com]

Condoms are actually one of the only forms of birth control that can protect against STDs, since they keep bodily fluids from coming in to contact.

[mmeubiquitous.livejournal.com]

True, but not all of them...HPV, herpes and genital warts can, I'm fairly sure, be transmitted despite use of a condom, since it's not the fluid that transmits them but the skin to skin contact.